April 10, 1919 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



lumber put on sticks. Adjustment has been effected with the government 

 on loft-over walnut logs, some of which are now going into commercial 

 lumber. It is stated that the Highland Park plant has the largest and 

 best balanced stock of hardwoods that it has ever carried. 



The branch at Huntington, W. Va., is a rotary veneer plant manufac- 

 turing high-grade poplar crossbanding exclusively. This plant is located 

 in the heart of the West Virginia timber section and has an unlimited 

 selection of choice yellow poplar logs. It is equipped with three rotary 

 lathes and a modern drying equipment including a large textile dryer. 

 The plant specializes in clear dimension stock producing over 2,000,000 

 feet of this material a month. 



The company has recently purchased another plant and mill at Jackson, 

 Teiin. While this is a smaller mill than either the Louisville or New 

 Albany units, it will be operated full time and will produce a very high 

 quality of hardwoods. 



The Cincinnati plant is running exclusively on walnut. During the 

 war this plant turned out large amounts of gunstock flitches and pro- 

 peller lumber, and now will continue to manufacture walnut but only for 

 domestic and export commercial requirementi>. 



The plant at Brooklyn, N. Y.. in the Bush Terminal building, Is ex- 

 clusively a parquetry flooring proposition and supplies all the eastern 

 flooring connections. The company maintains flooring agencies in every 

 large city from Pittsburgh east. 



The only other branch is a yard maintained at Winnipeg, Canada, on 

 which is carried a complete stock of hardwoods for supplying the whole- 

 sale and retail trade of that section. The Canadian business at present 

 is reported to be rather slow. 



The company has just added to its force II. W. Franket of Derby. Conn. 

 Until quite recently Mr. Franket was first lieutenant in the ordnance de- 

 partment, small arms division. Ilis principal duty was stimulatiug the 

 production of gunstocks and materials for airplanes, having spent about 

 eighteen months in this work. He was a frequent visitor at the Wood- 

 Mosaic plants, and having made a favorable impression upon W. A. Mac- 

 Lean, president, was offered and accepted a position with the company. 

 Mr. Franket is in charge of the timber department and located at the New 

 Albany ofl5ce. 



The officers of the Wood-Mosaic Company and those in charge of the 

 various plants are : W. A. MacLean, president and general manager ; 

 Angus MacLean. vice-president; H. H. Barclay, secretary; Merritt Rogers, 

 treasurer ; W. II. Day. manager of the Louisville branch ; Alexander 

 Schmidt, manager Cincinnati branch ; J. J. Egan, manager of the Hunting- 

 ton branch: Joseph E. Larkin, manager of the Brooklyn branch; W. C. 

 Hanafee, manager of the new mill at Jackson. Tenn.. and T. J. Christian. 

 New Albany, manager of lumber sales. 



Babcock Lumber Company in the West 



The Babcock Lumber Company of Pittsburgh. Pa., has purchased lum- 

 ber interests on the Pacific coast and will be affiliated with the Wallapa 

 Lumber Company, Portland. Ore., which company operates several large 

 far western mills. It is announced that the Babcock Lumber Company 

 expects to market through its Pittsburgh office 175,000,000 feet of lum- 

 ber a year, representing both eastern and western varieties. 



The company maintains branch sales offices in New York, Philadelphia, 

 Chicago, Providence, R. I., Johnstown, Pa., Rochester, N. Y., Detroit, 

 Mich., and South Bend, Ind. 



Pertinent Information 



Plant Forms Used in Designs 



Furniture designers will find practical value in an exhibit of plants 

 arranged to show the decorative use "of plant forms as shown by the 

 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 



The exhibition started March 15 and will run to and including April 

 20. Designers at all times have sought their inspirations at firsthand in 

 the motives of nature. Ornament has developed chieflly because of the 

 unlimited number of design features offered by flowers, leaves, buds and 

 pods. Famous styles and periods of designs owe much of their life and 

 present value to their careful and consistent use of motives drawn from 

 nature. On the other hand it is claimed that modern designers do not 

 faithfully study nature. Therefore, this exhibition has been arranged 

 both because it is of interest to lovers of plants and flowers and because 

 it is of value in the arts. 



The museum has issued a bulletin entitled "Plant Forms In Decorative 

 Art," describing the exhibition. 



New York's Furniture Industry 



An exceedingly interesting and valuable boolilet has just been issued by 

 the Merchants' Association of New York devoted to the complete analysis 

 of the furniture industry of the metropolis. New York is given as the 

 third largest furniture producing city in the country, Chicago being flr.st, 

 Grand Rapids second. New York's industry though is seemingly on a 

 different basis from that of any other big furniture center being made up 

 mainly of small shops which turn out an especially high grade line of 



proiluct. a good proportion of which is on special order. In fact, the 

 extra high-grade and the special made-to-ord^r furniture total $7,000 000 

 of the .'f;il,DOO,000 value for 1914. 



The book goes into detail as to raw material, manufacturing facilities 

 and conditions, labor, markets, and all other points of interest. It can 

 be secured by addressing the Merchants' Association of New York asking 

 tor Bulletin No. 2. 



Building Statistics for March 



Contracts let in March for building and construction projects will be 

 in excess of the normal average for March in money value. The statement 

 is made on the authority of the U. S. Department of Labor which has 

 issued figures on the contracts let in territory east of the Missouri and 

 north of the Ohio rivers, for the first three weeks of March, together with 

 an estimate for the remainder of the month. 



The total number of contracts let for the third week in March was 

 1,945, representing a money value of .$39.017,30.8. The New York district 

 reported 186 projects involving $8,372,082 ; Pittsburgh. 163 projects in- 

 volving $5,063,614 : Boston, 443 projects involving $2,602,000. The Chi- 

 cago district reported 741 contracts let involving $19,212,298, 



The record for the first three weeks of March was : 



Week ending March 7, 1919 $27 751 076 



■ • • '.'.'.'.'.'.' 29;s'5l!407 



39.017,308 



Week ending March 14, 1919 



Week ending March 21, 1919 '.'.'.'..'.'. 



Total $96,619,791 



From these figures has been omitted the Minneapolis district from which 

 rhe total would be less than one million dollars. 



It appears likely that the entire month's figures were between $125,- 

 000,000 and $150,000,000. The amount involved in contracts awarded 

 in January of this year was about $51,000,000 and in February about 

 $95,000,000: from which it appears the construction business certainly is 

 "picking up." 



Figures for the month of March for several years, to the nearest million 

 dollars, are as follows : 



;■!" .$69,000,000 inio $ 76,000,000 



}■>}?, 73.000.000 1916 95,000 000 



l^J^ 64.000,000 1917 133,000000 



1914 59,000,000 1918 116,000,000 



The present month does not have large government contracts to increase 

 its amounts, as did the corresponding month a year ago. Nevertheless, 

 it will be seen that the total is very likely to be about equal to Marchi 

 1917, and to exceed the amount for any other March during the period 

 included in the table. It is to be remembered, however, that costs are 

 higher and that the amount of construction of one of the earlier years 

 would now, in common parlance, "run into more money." Index figures 

 have been compiled as carefully as the nature of the case would permit, 

 for the general cost of construction for the years from 1013 on, and the 

 figures for these years have been converted into the cost in 1918, or the 

 present time. The results, in round numbers, are : 



1913 $ 94,000,000 1916 $132,000,000 



191| 89,000,000 1917 153,000,000 



1915 118,000,000 1918 116,000,000 



Average of the six years $117,000,000 



From this it appears that, even with the proper allowance made for 

 increasing costs, contracts have been awarded during the first three weeks 

 of the present month for such an amount (nearly $97,000,000) that the 

 entire month will undoubtedly present a total considerably above the aver- 

 age of recent .year.s. 



January Lumber Exports 



The Department of Commerce ha.s published figures showing the export 

 of forest products in January, 1919, and comparisons with similar data for 

 January, 1918. Some of these figures are summarized below : 



Article— 191R 1919 



Square timber $229,933 $312 994 



Round logs 45,358 7 718 



Railroad ties 204,647 251,601 



Gum lumber 106,124 107,622 



Oak lumber 241,226 26'7 128 



Yellow poplar 94',747 82309 



Doors, sash, and blinds 23,.'i49 25399 



Wooden furniture 376 .392 429 733 



Tool handles 93!827 143!350 



House finish 26,072 69,648 



Total wood manufactures of all kinds $6,184,216 $9,182,481 



Sale of Government Ships Advocated 



In a speech delivered in New York on March 17, Edward N. Hurley advo- 

 cated the sale at market prices of ships owned by the government. The 

 United States now owns 555 ocean-going steel cargo ships aggregating 

 3,385,475 deadweight tons. In addition it has under contract 1,336 similar 

 vessels of 9,275,006 deadweight tons. If our present program be carried 

 out there will be under the American flag next year 16,732,700 deadweight 

 tons of ocean-going steel cargo and passenger ships. This fleet will be the 

 equivalent of almost half the merchant tonnage which plies the seas today 

 under the flags of all nations combined. The government will own about 

 70 per cent of it. 



Mr. Hurley announced that he was opposed to government ownership 

 except as a last resort. Considerable opposition has developed to the pro- 

 posal of selling the ships at less than cost. 



